How Germany Can Still Achieve Its Energy Goals

The energy efficiency world champion Germany is lagging behind its own energy goals. This is the conclusion reached by the VDE standardization experts in the new VDE / DKE standardization roadmap "Electrical Energy Efficiency": Germany is a pioneer in climate agreements and is regarded as an international market and development leader in energy efficiency technologies. This is shown, among other things, by the above-average number of patent applications for energy efficiency in building technology as well as industrial processes, processes and cross-sectional technologies. In these areas, a total of 30% to 40% of worldwide patents were registered by German researchers and companies between 2002 and 2004.

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Despite initial notable successes, Germany seems to be behind schedule in 2014 to achieve its ambitious efficiency goals - reducing energy consumption by 10% by 2020 and 25% by 2050 compared to 2008. The standardization roadmap shows how Germany could still achieve the course. It was developed for the first time with the participation of a large public in the form of a blog and discussed in various social media channels.

Standardization should promote electrical energy efficiency

In addition to increasing the number of renewable energy sources in the electricity mix, increasing electrical energy efficiency (EEE) is the second pillar of the energy transition. The interaction of standardization and development, which the roadmap wants to represent, makes a significant contribution to the EEE. An example: In the case of household appliances alone, energy consumption has been reduced by over 30% in recent years. This corresponds to the annual output of a larger nuclear power plant. The EU's energy label and eco-design directive played a large part in this success. The still unused energy efficiency potential is considerably greater. For example, the power consumed by electric motors in German industry each year could be reduced by around 30 TWh by 2020 - enough to make several large power plants superfluous.Efficient lighting and heating systems can open up similar savings potential. "The future is smart," says VDE standardization expert Frank Steinmüller. “More and more intelligent applications make our lives easier. However, these also require energy and we want to keep them as low as possible,”Steinmüller continues.

Politics, industry and consumers have to act

In order to fully exploit the potential of the EEE, several points must be taken from the VDE perspective. Available products and technologies have to be used consistently, new standards and measuring methods have to be adopted and applied. Politicians and industry are called upon to create more transparency and more incentives. And the consumer himself has to help by taking advantage of more energy-efficient offers. Standards and test labels help here. In the strong involvement of German experts in key committees of the international standardization bodies, the standardization experts see a good sign that German technical knowledge will continue to set important priorities for future topics such as electrical energy efficiency.

Work on EEE standardization will continue in the form of another version of the standardization roadmap. Among other things, topics such as energy self-sufficient sensors, effects and potential of product networking (Internet of Things) or the holistic consideration of all parameters for energy efficiency optimization should be discussed in detail. Feedback on the roadmap can flow in and help to concretise future-proof fields of action in the changing electrical energy environment. (kj)

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File: VDE / DKE standardization roadmap "Electrical energy efficiency"